Did You Know There Was a Rat Bounty in Michigan Until Recently?

Up until fairly recently, Michigan would legally have to pay you 10 cents per rat head.

May 19th, 2000 was a big day in the rat community.  The families of Remy, Splinter, and Fievel Mousekewitz were no doubt celebrating over a cheese block on that day because that is the day that Michigan repealed 'The Rat Bounty law of 1915.'  This hilariously outdated Michigan law was technically called the Public Act 50 of 1950.  This is an excerpt of that law according to American Greatness,

Any person who kills a black, brown, grey, or Norway rat shall be entitled to receive ten (. 10) cents for each head of a rat that is presented to the city, township, or village clerk.

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There were rules you had to follow in order to collect your dimes for rat heads.  For example, you couldn't just show up with one rat head.  Nobody's got time for that.  In order to receive a bounty, you must present a bundle of at least 5 rat heads.

In the late '90s and early 2000s, the Michigan State Law Revision Task Force dug deep to find and repeal outdated laws like the rat bounty act.  Nobody wants their homes or businesses to be overrun by rats.  So, why repeal this law?  Imagine working in a local government building on a day somebody shows up with a bunch of rat heads and demands his bounty.  Not to mention, rodents simply are not the problem that they were 100 years ago.

So, as of the year 2000, rats no longer have to play hide and squeak with bounty hunters.